[Value of vascular endothelial-cadherin in evaluating the severity of patients with sepsis]

To explore the value of vascular endothelial-cadherin (VE-cad) in evaluating the severity of sepsis.

A prospective study was conducted to select 85 patients with sepsis treated in the emergency ward of the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from June 1, 2015 to November 1, 2017. The gender, age, medical history, first infection site, number of affected organs, laboratory indexes, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II), simplified acute physiology score II (SAPS II), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) and the total length of stay, emergency intensive care unit (EICU) length of stay, 28-day at admission and survival during hospitalization were measured, and the VE-cad level within 24 hours at admission was measured. The patients were divided into sepsis group and septic shock group according to the progress of the disease. The patients were divided into multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) group and non MODS group according to whether they were accompanied by MODS. The differences of the above indexes in patients with different disease progression, MODS and different prognosis were analyzed and compared. The receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) was drawn to evaluate the value of VE-cad in evaluating the severity of sepsis.

A total of 85 patients were included, mainly respiratory tract infection. Among them, 38 cases were sepsis and 47 cases were septic shock, 39 cases had MODS, 46 cases had no MODS, 64 cases survived and 21 cases died within 28 days after admission. Compared with sepsis group, the number of affected organs in septic shock group was greater [3 (2, 4) vs. 1 (0, 2)], APACHE II score [13 (10, 21) vs. 7 (5, 12)], SAPS II score [35 (31, 55) vs. 7 (5, 12)], SOFA score [7.0 (5.0, 10.0) vs. 3.0 (0, 5.0)], blood lactic acid [Lac (mmol/L): 3.5 (2.4, 6.2) vs. 1.9 (1.2, 2.2)], C-reactive protein [CRP (mg/L): 90.0 (58.1, 90.0) vs. 50.5 (38.0,90.0)] and VE-cad levels [mg/L: 1.427 (1.141, 2.150) vs. 1.195 (0.901, 1.688)] were significantly increased, while platelet count [PLT (×10⁹/L): 113.4±67.2 vs. 202.5±109.5] and hemoglobin (Hb) levels (g/L: 106.3±36.3 vs. 118.6±18.0) were significantly decreased (all P < 0.05). Compared with non MODS group, APACHE II score [14 (10, 22) vs. 8 (6, 13)], SAPS II score [36 (32, 56) vs. 29 (24, 35)], SOFA score (7.9±3.9 vs. 4.0±3.8), in-hospital mortality [53.8% (21/39) vs. 0% (0/46)], Lac [mmol/L: 3.1 (2.3, 6.3) vs. 2.1 (1.4, 4.6)] and VE-cad levels [mg/L: 1.427 (1.156, 1.937) vs. 1.195 (0.897, 1.776)] in MODS group were significantly higher, the length of stay in EICU was significantly longer [days: 6 (3, 12) vs. 3 (0, 7)], and the PLT level was significantly lower (×10⁹/L: 118.2±80.0 vs. 182.5±104.0, all P < 0.05). Compared with the death group, the number of affected organs in the survival group was fewer [2 (1, 3) vs. 3 (1, 5)], APACHE II score [9 (6, 13) vs. 21 (13, 25)], SAPS II score [31 (25, 36) vs. 55 (35, 63)] and SOFA score (4.7±3.7 vs. 8.9±4.5) were significantly reduced, and the length of stay in EICU [days: 4 (1, 8) vs. 8 (3, 15)] was significantly shorter (all P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that area under the ROC curve (AUC) of VE-cad, SOFA score and VE-cad combined with SOFA score in evaluating the severity of sepsis were 0.632 [95% confidence interval (95%CI) was 0.513-0.750], 0.830 (95%CI was 0.744-0.916) and 0.856 (95%CI was 0.779-0.933), respectively. When the cut-off value of VE-cad was 1.240 mg/L, the sensitivity was 68.1% and the specificity was 55.3%, the sensitivity of VE-cad combined with SOFA score was 85.1%, the specificity was 73.7%.

VE-cad has a certain evaluation value for the severity of sepsis, and the evaluation value of VE-cad combined with SOFA score is better than that of VE-cad single index.